Whitewater and family rafting trips on the french broad river near asheville, nc

Trip Types

The full day trip is about eight and a half miles. We run the same five mile stretch of river as the half day trip, stop and have a beach side, picnic style lunch, and then instead of stopping after five miles, we keep going on to Hot Springs, NC. This extra three and a half miles takes us on a journey through beautiful and remote Pisgah National Forrest, past the ghost town of Runion, and through the classic class IV Frank Bells Rapid.

This white water rafting trip travels the same section of the French Broad River as the Half-Day Whitewater Trip. The pace for the lunch trip allows more time on the river and includes a stop along the way for lunch. The lunch is a fresh deli / picnic style and is served riverside. The time frame for this trip is the same as the half day trip with about an hour (depends on trip size) added for lunch and a more leisurely pace. Please let us know if you are under any time constraints.

The afternoon half day trip runs the same five mile stretch of class I-III whitewater as the morning half day with lunch trip. We just don't have lunch. We do, however, have a little snack waiting for us when we reach the take out.

WHAT OUR GUESTS SAY

Blue Heron was professional and fun.

Blue Heron was absolutely a great white water rafting adventure. We were crazy and decided to go in the middle of winter (12/19) but they made sure to make our experience as awesome as possible. Despite us not getting reception, they showed up at the cabin on time to greet us. Considering the temperature (~35 degrees at the time ), they also made sure before we paid that we knew what we were getting into and that we were sure that we wanted to try. Did not pressure us at all to go despite the possibility of us getting cold feet (pun intended).

We were definitely worried about the cold but decided to go on with it. To keep us warm, they provided wetsuits, base layers, fleeces, windbreakers, gloves, socks/shoes, and hats. It definitely help as none of us were cold at all and felt great throughout the whole trip. Our guide Wags was extremely professional and fun. He directed the boat well and kept us paddling on point. He was entertaining with his anecdotes and also very informative about the history of the river.

The river itself was fairly tame, although it maybe because I sat in the middle of the boat. It was a solid 2/3 class river with some short drops. We definitely all got splashed but we never felt like we were going to get thrown out. The 2 in the front did get a more exciting ride and were thrown about a bit more. Overall everyone thought it was fun coming from people who have done a few of these amateur whitewater rides and one who went for her first time.